The invention relates to a wall outlet for a fiber optic connector assembly. More particularly, the invention relates to a wall outlet containing a fiber optic interconnect assembly into which a fiber optic cable can be plugged when a spring loaded hood of the wall outlet is snapped out.
In recent years, electro optical equipment has begun to replace electronic equipment for certain applications, for example, for telecommunications networks. This trend is expected to continue because of the inherent advantages that electro optical equipment has over electronic equipment for these kinds of applications. In order to interconnect various pieces of electro optical equipment, fiber optic cables are used. The fiber optic cables comprise optical fibers surrounded by shielding with connectors at the ends thereof. The appearance of the fiber optic cables resembles electric shielded cables, such as coaxial cables.
A great deal of effort has been applied to developing connectors for optical cables which generally correspond to electrical connectors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,291 (Stape et al.), which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a fiber optic assembly for mating the optical fibers of a duplex fiber optic cable with like fibers of a second duplex cable or with a pair of simplex cables while achieving maximum axial alignment of the respective fiber pairs. This patent discloses novel simplex and duplex cable connectors and an interconnect member which receives either the simplex or duplex connectors at its opposite ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,887 (Glover et al.), also assigned to the present assignee and incorporated herein by reference, discloses and claims a fiber optic connector assembly and a wall outlet into which it connects. As explained therein, cable terminating connectors are employed that are polarized to prevent mismating. The interconnect system is designed to be easily assembled while accurately aligning the terminated ends of fiber optic transmission members for optimum operation. The wall outlet is designed to contain one half of the interconnect system. Since it is desirable that the wall outlet protect the interconnect assembly as much as possible, the wall outlet includes a shutter member which covers that half of the interconnect assembly when it is not being utilized.
The wall outlet of U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,887 further includes a hood beneath which the shutter member is pivotally mounted. The shutter member is spring biased against the hood when the wall outlet is not in use. When it is desired to use the wall outlet, a plug connector is brought to bear against a projection of the shutter member causing it to pivot away from the hood. The plug connector is then guided into a latch connection within the portion of the interconnect system contained within the wall outlet.
The hood of the wall outlet described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,887 is a rigid structure. It projects outwardly from the wall and remains in that position even when the wall outlet is not being used. The shutter member pivots within the hood while the hood projects outwardly from the wall at all times. It would be more desirable, however, for aesthetic and for practical reasons to provide a wall outlet into which an optical fiber cable is plugged which wall outlet lays flat against the wall when it is not in use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a wall outlet for interconnection with a plug terminated optical fiber cable which wall outlet includes a spring loaded hood, the hood laying flush with the wall when the wall outlet is not in use and snapping outward when it is desired to utilize the wall outlet.
It is another object of the invention to provide a wall outlet for interconnection with a plug terminated optical fiber cable which wall outlet receives within it an interconnect assembly.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a wall outlet for interconnection with a plug terminated optical fiber cable which provides a shuttering system to protect an interconnect assembly mounted in said wall outlet when the wall outlet is not being utilized.